It's the End of the Month!

I have been so wrapped up in getting through the end of this month that I decided to add a blog post about it.  I overspent on my shopping trips (which included lots of things I have needed for a long time...) and my last food trip to WinCo... Now I have to make it through until next month.  I have food, just not quick and easy foods, and things that are easy to use.  I am trying to make what I have into meals I want to eat, and that won't get thrown away.

Today I tried to save some home-baked tortilla chips I made earlier... I went to eat them and they were sooooooo bad.  I thought it might help to bake them crisp again, but I totally forgot I had them in my toaster oven until the dinger went off... they just were not meant to be eaten, that's my guess!   :-)

Cucumbers are suppose to be great for helping lose weight, so I bought three of them... not good.  I usually eat them with cream cheese or on a sandwich... no cream cheese right now, so what do I do with all these cucumbers???  I'm working through that process right now.  I made a diced cucumber veggie salad this morning... enough for at least two or three or four meals.  This weekend is going to be fun.  :-( 

I guess this is really about changing your food lifestyle... and it is hard!

It's like the baked potato comment I made... what do you eat instead?!

If I had food money to spend, I would go get more lettuce for salads, more tomatoes for salads and other uses, etc.  It would help, but it isn't the solution.  Being one person means you don't eat as much, don't need to make as much, and have to find a way through.

The end of the month starts when you don't have any more resources to use up... no money, no food stamps, no bus tickets, no gas, no whatever it is you need to make it through.  It use to start on the 3rd of the month when my kids were little.  I must have more to budget now because I haven't had this problem in quite awhile. 

I suppose I do have money I could use... but not money in the budget for this month.  I'm trying to live by a decent budget these days, so that makes a difference.  I already spent my back-up plan.

Well, I still have my Farmer's Market money.  I can get some fresh veggies and other stuff they might have... next Tuesday.  That will get me through until March.

Saving is really a great thing to do... in any way you can do it.  I made up this saying at one point in my financial challenges ::

"The more you save, the more you can spend." 

It was how I realized the benefits of using coupons, trying to build up with sale merchandise (If it's something you can use or give to someone who needs it.)  I was thinking about the familiar saying we all must know :: A penny saved is a penny earned.  Saving is really hard work.  Once you get into the process, you begin to understand that women who stay at home and strive for their families are really working very hard...  they just don't get a paycheck for their work... it can't always be quantified.

My own financial issues have taught me a lot about our country.  There are consequences for the abuse that those in power have heaped on us... and many will suffer for their choices.  GOD expects us to care for the poor and needy, but He doesn't expect us to help those who have the resources to help themselves... like agribusiness subsidies, contracts to those who support political campaigns, etc.  Our national consequences are being blamed on the poor, when they are really the fault of our legislative bodies.  The poor are simply an easy target.

I don't expect the government to fix my bad spending problem this month.  If I really needed some kind of help to get through, I would expect to find it within the Christian community... somewhere, somehow, even if I wasn't a church member.  Next month I will do better, I hope.  When I had kids, there was no getting better the next month... it was an ongoing problem.  We went to food kitchens, got food boxes, walked where we needed to go, etc.  Poverty is not a free ride.

So, here I am, still attached to food stamps with my Social Security payments... 1975 to 2018... it has been a rough journey... a terrible fight to find answers... and the pain is more than the joy. 

Poverty was my classroom for Working Together...

This weekend I will be starting my budget for March, be crafting products I hope to sell online, try to read a book, will probably listen to an online Bible, will write a letter or two (maybe), might make some food items I want to sell, and will be making a bag to take to one of the missions in Portland next week, when I go to the Farmer's Market.

Until next time...
In Christ,

Deborah Martin
work2gather.us

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May GOD help us all to have the right priorities.
May we see that our blessings have a purpose.
May our lives find the dreams that come from GOD.
Amen.